Moral harassment cases grow 10% in 2021 with home office jobs

Prevention, combat and reporting: expert says that in home office employment – ​​away from the harassers, victims feel safer to report moral harassment

The number of moral harassment cases in the workplace grew by more than 10% in the first six months of 2021. Between January and June, according to the Superior Labor Court (TST), 27.117 new actions were registered, while in the same period of the year in the past there were 24.489. In the assessment of compliance specialist lawyer André Costa, remote work (home office) motivated the complaints

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The commerce sector leads the list of new actions in the Labor Courts throughout Brazil, with 5.746 complaints. General services, with 3.466 cases; industry, with 3.221; and communications, with 2.047, complete the ranking of the sectors that most record this type of crime.

Remote work (home office) motivates complaints of moral harassment

In the opinion of the compliance lawyer André Costa, remote work motivated the complaints. “Away from the aggressor and in a healthier environment, the employee has a better perception of how harmful that relationship is and feels safer in reporting what is happening in the reporting channels”, he says.

Costa, who is the author of the book Corporate Forensic Interview and a specialist in detecting moral harassment in corporations, points out that the dissemination of countless cases in the media has been an important instrument of awareness. “The person who is being harassed, when seeing the reported cases on social networks or in the press, ends up identifying with the situation and gains strength to denounce it”, he says.

If, on the one hand, the pandemic encouraged victims to report, on the other hand, it changed the way aggression happens. “Harassment in telework manifests itself passively and often silently. By failing to call a coworker to meetings, not answering emails, not answering calls and excluding him from other activities, the person is committing harassment”, explains the lawyer.

The specialist, who has been working for more than 10 years investigating and treating cases of moral harassment in the corporate environment, says that this type of conduct has become very common in the last year. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have managed many crises related to this behavior that generates enormous wear and tear and, in most cases, leads the victim to resign”, he points out.

Prevention, combat and reporting: effects of moral harassment go beyond problems in the workplace

The effects of bullying go beyond problems in the workplace. “It is a very cruel aggression and causes suffering to the worker. I've dealt with cases in which the employee took medication to control anxiety and had personal problems caused by the harassment,” he says.

Complaint: To denounce the aggressors, the lawyer recommends gathering as much evidence as possible and looking for the official channels company complaint. "The victim must document, collect evidence, such as prints and recordings, gather witnesses and report to the company's reporting channels", she advises.

To break the cycle of abuse, companies need to apply training and guide employees frequently. “It is necessary to have a specialized consultancy to guide, train, make it clear that certain jokes, contempt and disregard within a structure are considered moral harassment and can lead to penalties”, he advises. “When there is a complaint, the company must deal impartially”, he adds.